3 Books That Feel Like Fan Fiction
More wish fulfillment, please
I am seeing fan fiction everywhere these days.
Am I just overusing the phrase?
When I watched Hustle with Adam Sandler? That felt like fan fiction for his life. An avid basketball fan, Adam wrote himself as a 76ers coach. He had 25 NBA players cameo, largely as a flex. He wrote what he wanted to live and you know what? Good for him.
Good for all of us!
What is The Summer I Turned Pretty if not every 16-year-old’s fantasy life? Oh, I’m so torn by all of the gorgeous people in love with me what will I even do?
There is a reason the television series has taken over the world and it's not just the Cape-Cod-adjacent setting!
We all want to live some sort of crazy unrealistic dream world life thing.
I know I certainly do.
And so, I present to you, three fan-fiction-ish books that hit me hard in the wish fulfillment corner (suite?) of my heart.
1. Fan Fiction For The Young Writer Living in LA
Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman
Writing out the premise of this book is almost embarrassing, because it’s like handing you a diary of my own wildest dreams or something.
Young writer profiles hottest actor in the world right before his breakout role. Sparks fly. (Omg my second Taylor reference somebody stop me.) Is it real? Or he’s just an actor? I mean, he reads her blog?! The profile goes viral and defines her writing career. Ten years (and two divorces) later, they’re back together for a follow-up interview…(He reads her newsletter now.)
This love is alive back from the dead.
I’m sorry. I’m blushing. It’s so absurd. It’s so good. It’s based on this absolutely insane profile of Chris Evans in GQ right before Captain America which you should read whether or not you’re interested in this book.
But you’re probably interested in this book, right?
2. Fan Fiction For The Single Mom With A Bum Ex-Husband
Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan
Oh my.
I guess this is all I want to read now. Stories of regular women falling in love with the world’s biggest celebrities?
Nora is a recently single mother who lives in a quaint town and writes romance scripts for the Hallmark Channel. After her divorce, she channels her rage into a script about her ex. It’s big. It’s made into a movie with a man named Leo who I am taking as kind of a Brad Pitt meets Leonardo DiCaprio situation?
They fall in love.
I read it in a day. I shipped it off to a pregnant friend who said nothing is keeping her interest because what could possibly be more interesting than a regular woman and Leonardo DiCaprio slash Brad Pitt?
This is the only story I find interesting anymore.
3. Fan Fiction For The NBA Lover
The Second Season by Emily Adrian
One day I am going to write an essay and I am going to start it with something like this:
The day my baby died*, the Los Angeles Lakers played the Denver Nuggets in the third game of the Western Conference Finals.
Ugh, I know I can do better than that. That’s why the essay remains in me and not Out There somewhere.
I know God loves me because the Los Angeles Lakers won the 2020 NBA championship.
That’s closer?
On the ambulance ride to see my recently dead baby*, I held a bag of my pee with one hand, my phone with the other. The Lakers were playing.
I’m regressing now.
The point is, the NBA has saved my life. Not just in 2020, where we watched every playoff game in the NICU, the distraction sometimes the only thing keeping me going.
The NBA has brought joy and fandom and mindfulness in a time where very little else has.
I have screamed, I have laughed, I have spent thousands of hours cleaning and listening to basketball podcasts simply because they are fun.
How often do I do things just for fun?
The NBA is a huge part of my life.
This book, then, was made for me.
A few pages in I called out to Rob, “I think I’m reading Doris Burke fan fiction?”
I quickly Googled it, and yes, it’s not even like an implied thing. The author set out to write about Doris Burke, the ESPN NBA commentator, feminist icon, Drake crush.
The book follows Doris (or Ruth, as she’s known in the book, but let’s be honest, Doris) through one NBA Finals while she is trying for a promotion for her ex-husband's job. Her ex-husband, in the story, is not-so-subtly a Jeff Van Gundy parody complete with reference to this iconic video.
Doris/Ruth is ambitious. She is a mother. This is, maybe above all, a book about motherhood. I love her in real life and I love her in this book and my only complaint, really, is I would have had her dating an NBA player. Yes, I know she has to be a professional and Doris would never, but Ruth could!
What am I saying? She should have dated Drake.
*This story has a happy ending. My baby was revived and received excellent care. The Lakers won the championship.
What I’m reading now, Pride Month edition: I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, Heartstopper by Alice Oseman
What Daisy is reading now (21 months): Bunny Roo and Duckling Too by Melissa Marr, illustrated by Teagan White. Look at this art!
What about you? Anything wonderful you’ve read lately? Any Pride reads I should check out?
